Tipi Tales two

Winnipeg: The second season of the award-winning preschool series Tipi Tales wrapped 24 days of principal photography Oct. 28.

The 13 x 30 puppet series follows the adventures of four children who encounter various animal spirits of the Seven Sacred Laws of the Ojibwa while exploring the forest surrounding their great-grandparents’ home. Puppeteers include Jan Skene, Herbie Barnes, Rebecca Gibson, Ryan Black, Jules Desjarlais and Marsha Knight. Season two begins airing on Treehouse TV and APTN in Canada and on Maori TV in New Zealand in the new year.

Winnipeg’s Lisa Meeches of Eagle Vision and Wayne Sheldon of MidCanada Production Services executive produce the series, which features original music by Fred Penner. Director Lesley Oswald cocreated the series with Nancy Trites Botkin, who also acts as executive story editor and cocreative producer. Local writers Gibson, Melissa Kajpust, Jacquie Black and Cam Bennett pen the script with Barnes.

Tipi Tales receives funding from the CTF’s EIP and LFP, Manitoba Film & Sound, the Shaw Children’s Programming Initiative and the CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund.

Verite on a roll

Regina: Just two weeks after wrapping on the second season of CTV’s hit comedy series Corner Gas – the first run of which is nominated for five Geminis and an International Emmy – executive producer Virginia Thompson of Regina-based Verite Films started principal photography on season two of triple Gemini nominee renegadepress.com, a dramatic youth series about two students determined to expose the realities of teen life in their e-zine.

Thompson, who cocreated renegadepress.com with director/writer/producer Robert De Lint, is overseeing the production of nine 30-minute episodes shooting in Regina Sept. 29 to Nov. 18. Additional directors include Regina’s Rob King, Jeff Beesley from Moose Jaw, SK, and, making his directorial debut, Corner Gas star Lorne Cardinal.

A real Internet newspaper created for and driven by teens complements the cross-platform series. Jordan Wheeler executive produces and Sara Snow is executive story editor. Additional writers include Ian Barr, Iain Maclean and Carol Greyeyes.

The $3.9-million series receives funding from the CTF’s LFP, APTN, TVOntario, TFO, SCN, Knowledge Network, Shaw Television Broadcast Fund, CanWest Independent Producers Fund, the Independent Production Fund and the CTV Saskatchewan Program Development Fund. Film Option International handles international distribution. Laura Bracken